[clinton/website/src/unknownlamer.org.git] / Old Viewpoints.muse

#title The Weak Must Die

Intermediate forms of thought which have been refined.

* Misc

** Copyright Is Bad for Society

Copyright is a tool used to placate publishers who feel that they will
make no money if things can be freely copied. Publishers, however,
contribute **nothing** of worth to our culture; they are mere middlemen
who print the creative work of others, and so their pleas should be
ignored.

A short copyright term is acceptable, and worked in most of the world
for a few hundred years. As it stands now we have perpetual copyrights
(as in the Old World), and the cultural stagnation that affected
Europe then is now occurring today in most of the world. There are
many books published between 1917 and a few years ago that I would
love to read, but am unable to because they have not been printed (for
older books often in as long as 40 or 50 years). The albums of a few
bands I like are out of print now and I will be long dead before I get
a chance to purchase them (*if* copyright is not extended again, which
experience tells me will happen soon) because the record labels have
no interest in returning the masters to the band!

What point is there to allowing copyright to exist on works which are
not being published? If their terms had expired there is a chance that
they would be being published by public domain publishing houses who
subsist on smaller margins. This would [[http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=482][create real economic value]], and
more importantly great **social** value. Allowing art to rot is a
disrespect to human creativity and an immeasurable loss for all future
humans.

I predict that in two or three hundred years there will be nearly no
record of any literature or art produced in the twentieth century. As
it stands today we have lost most of it with the exception of a few
trashy works which have become popular to the masses.
Commit	Line	Data
8a7c1bf7	1	#title The Weak Must Die
	2
	3	Intermediate forms of thought which have been refined.
	4
	5	* Misc
	6
	7	** Copyright Is Bad for Society
	8
	9	Copyright is a tool used to placate publishers who feel that they will
	10	make no money if things can be freely copied. Publishers, however,
	11	contribute nothing of worth to our culture; they are mere middlemen
	12	who print the creative work of others, and so their pleas should be
	13	ignored.
	14
	15	A short copyright term is acceptable, and worked in most of the world
	16	for a few hundred years. As it stands now we have perpetual copyrights
	17	(as in the Old World), and the cultural stagnation that affected
	18	Europe then is now occurring today in most of the world. There are
	19	many books published between 1917 and a few years ago that I would
	20	love to read, but am unable to because they have not been printed (for
	21	older books often in as long as 40 or 50 years). The albums of a few
	22	bands I like are out of print now and I will be long dead before I get
	23	a chance to purchase them (if copyright is not extended again, which
	24	experience tells me will happen soon) because the record labels have
	25	no interest in returning the masters to the band!
	26
	27	What point is there to allowing copyright to exist on works which are
	28	not being published? If their terms had expired there is a chance that
	29	they would be being published by public domain publishing houses who
	30	subsist on smaller margins. This would [[http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=482][create real economic value]], and
	31	more importantly great social value. Allowing art to rot is a
	32	disrespect to human creativity and an immeasurable loss for all future
	33	humans.
	34
	35	I predict that in two or three hundred years there will be nearly no
	36	record of any literature or art produced in the twentieth century. As
	37	it stands today we have lost most of it with the exception of a few
	38	trashy works which have become popular to the masses.